Sunday, November 14, 2010

Here’s an easy and extremely helpful way to get everyone on the same page about the exact target of your radio station. This is something I’ve done at nearly every station I’ve programmed. I put this list together using actual research from Arbitron, The Media Audit, Scarborough, and local perceptual to come up with this list. I gave this list to everyone at the station. Here’s a sample of my “Target Listener.”

Board Target DemographicAdults 25-54

Narrow Target Demographic. We must OWN this demo!Adults 35-44

On Target Demographic. We must always use her as a filter.33 Year Old Female• Married• Young family• Employed Full Time• Contemporary in fashion and trends• Trendy• Not afraid to go out in the city• Very into family/friends, but loves weekend getaways with husband• Drives a foreign car (only 23.7% of metro population own a domestic car)• Faithful/Spiritual• Gives of her time to charity. Volunteers• Loves new movies and Hollywood gossip• Reads People, OK!, Women’s Day, Glamour, Cosmo• Loves to watch ET, Inside Edition, E! Entertainment Television, HGTV, Food Network.• Loves to find TV shows the whole family can watch at the same time• Wants to protect her children from off color humor• Has a college education• Median Household income is $52,000• Didn’t listen to country music before the early 90’s. Loves Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Brad Paisley• She listens to the lyrics and knows their meanings• Also listens to Hot A/C, A/C and CHR

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Most radio stations don’t sell the music anymore. They feel that just saying the title and artist is enough. Many stations don’t even do that because they are jukeboxes running jock less.

In every piece of research I’ve ever seen, listener LOVE to know the title and artist of every song. It’s always at or near the top of what they want. Yet, so many stations don’t even do that.

I’d think we need to take it a step further and actually SELL the music. Talk about the songs, the stars, have audio from the artists run over the intro of them talking about what the song means and how it came to be. Make the song a big deal. Be excited about being able to play it. Isn’t that a big reason why most of us got into radio?

Think about it. If we sell the music and make the listener a big fan of the artist and their song, they will want to hear them more and spend more time listening to us to hear that song. They may also go out and buy and download the single. It’s a win-win for records and for radio.

I think it’s not only our job to play the music, but to sell the music and make fans of the songs and stars.

WHO I AM

I'm a fan of compelling, personality driven radio. I got bit by the radio bug when I was 13 and have been involved ever since. Today, I'm the Vice President of Programming at Westwood One. I oversee the Denver based 24/7 formats heard on nearly 1700 affiliate stations across the country and around the world. I'm also the National Program Director for the syndicated shows "The Lia Show" and "Country Gold with Randy Owen."
I currently sit on the CMA (Country Music Association) Board of Directors, the Radiothon Advisory Board for St. Jude Children's Hospital as well as the Advisory Board for the Ohio School of Broadcasting.
I served as the Agenda Chairman for the Country Radio Seminar in 2010 and 2011.